Recycling effort moves ahead

December 4, 2010

General relief was felt among the Marietta Area Recycling Center volunteers when the owner of the property at 915 Gilman informed them several weeks ago that the property they are currently using is no longer for sale. The pressure of finding a new site is gone.

Unfortunately, the pressure of finding funding for the 34-year old volunteer-staffed center continues. Because of generous donors, we currently have funds to see us through the first of the year.

Funding should not be expected from a city, township or county level but rightfully should come from the Southeast Ohio Joint Solid Waste District. This can be done under the current SOJSWD plan filed with Ohio EPA according to that agency. For less than $10,000. per year, over 800 tons of plastic, glass, paper material and aluminum and steel cans can be recycled. These materials are sorted and ready to be baled.

The $10,000. would cover rent for the property, weekly dumpster service, insurance and transportation. It would be interesting to compare that cost per ton to the other recycling programs in the district. Without the effort and time put forth by the volunteers to ensure that recycling is convenient for the public and as inclusive as possible, the costs would be much greater.

The interest in other cities, states and countries in increasing the level of recycling seems to be missing locally. However, individuals understand the importance and continue to bring their household recyclables to the Center in good volume.

If you are one of these, please note that the Center can no longer accept #3, 6 or 7 plastics but can take #1, #2, #4 and #5 - remember, these are the numbers in the chasing-arrow triangle on the bottom of most containers. Spray tops must be removed because of the metal spring inside.

For a complete list of what can be recycled at the Center, ask for one of the brochures.

We can recycle plastic bags - we find a number of those in the dumpster which is a mystery, a waste and an added expense.

Several approaches are being taken to put an end to the large number of plastic bags that end up in tree tops or waterways where they are detrimental to aquatic life. China has started charging a fee and found 49% fewer bags were used. The use of plastic bags in Ireland dropped from 330 bags/person/year to only 20 when a tax was placed on them. Some cities in this country are banning their use by larger stores. These and other responses to the worldwide problem are being tried - which will be most effective?s

Meanwhile, if you feel you are being buried by catalogs you are not interested in and/or junk mail, there are some options.

www.stopthejunkmail.com will help with both categories whereas www.catalogchoice.org allows you to choose which catalogs to stop and which you want to continue to receive. www.41pounds.org will help reduce the load from the mailbox for a fee part of which they will donate to a charity of your choice.

We can do more than complain - we can act to reduce the number of trees cut to provide mail we do not want.